Kauai lifeguard
and fire chiefs spar
over training

The Fire Department is accused
of giving inadequate training

---

By Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.com

LIHUE >> A long-simmering dispute over training standards between the head of Kauai's county lifeguards and the Kauai Fire Department boiled over Thursday in the Kauai County Council.

Council Chairman and mayoral candidate Ron Kouchi had Fire Chief David Sproat on the carpet for the second time in two weeks.

Last week, it was over the use of donations from film companies that were used to buy rescue equipment without going through the Council.

This week, it was over complaints by Chief Lifeguard Nathan "Kaleo" Hookano that the Fire Department is providing inadequate training to the county's 26 lifeguards.

And Hookano said in an interview that he is being punished by Sproat, who has placed him on administrative leave pending an investigation into his alleged insubordination.

The friction between Hookano and the KFD began with a shotgun marriage 18 months ago between the lifeguards and the firefighters.

Previously, the lifeguards worked under the County Parks and Recreation Division, and Hookano was given broad latitude in supervising and training the lifeguards.

By the end of 2001, the tension between the two groups was so bad the lifeguards did not attend the annual Fire Department Christmas Party, Councilman Randall Valenciano pointed out.

Battalion Chief Bob Kaden, who has long headed the Fire Department's water safety program and who is now Hookano's boss, told the Council that Hookano has resisted every effort to build a team including both lifeguards and firefighters.

Both lifeguards and firefighters are certified by the U.S. Lifesaving Association, and their training for responding to a drowning is identical except that lifeguards are taught additional skills such as observation and accident prevention, Kaden told the County Council.

Kaden said that although all the lifeguards are certified "as far as I can find out," no records were kept previously of training.

"As a department, we aren't happy with the kind of training that's gone on in the past," he said.

Only two of the lifeguards are trainers, one of whom is Hookano. Kaden said he wants all lifeguards and firefighters who want to become trainers to have the opportunity to do so.

"I've been stonewalled by this individual," Kaden said.

"I have asked him about training. No response," Kaden said. "I asked him what we going to do about the new hires we made last year. No response. I asked him what kind of new rescue equipment he wanted. No response. The lack of information has been stunning."

Sproat agreed. "We've been very, very, very patient, and we've not got any responses. On top of that, he has given out inaccurate information about our plans and programs to his lifeguards."

Hookano did not attend the Council meeting but said in an interview the same day: "We do not want to train with the Fire Department. We've been training ourselves. We don't need cross-training with them."

The Council members took no action. They asked Kaden to provide them with a time line for meeting his training goals. Kaden said it is his intent to put all the lifeguards through training or retraining, and the process should be completed by this summer.